What kind of a blogger am I?

Posted on November 4, 2007 by Varun
Type of blogger - Purist young upstart undiscovered

Varun is Purist young upstart undiscovered

Posted in fun, meta, silliness | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Hutch/Vodafone service in Mumbai terrible

Posted on October 25, 2007 by Varun

I have lived in 5 cities for more than a month in each city. I have availed mobile services from every single major mobile service provider in India. And I with that kind of experience behind me I can confidently say that the Hutch/Vodafone service in Mumbai is the absolute worst of all of them. Even the second worst is much much much better than Vodafone Mumbai.

I stay in the Borivali area. Voice quality is very poor. Calls get dropped on an average once every call. Often my cell is unreachable. Often due to network congestion I have to try multiple times to dial out to somebody. People call me, they get message X but actual event Y has happened, for e.g. they get a ringing tone and I do not get any call or missed call.

Now I am totally fed up. For me the mobile is very critical in keeping touch with family, friends and for work. I have decided to ditch Vodafone (and my friends say Airtel is equally bad) and go in for a Tata Indicom mobile. My roommate Punit has a Tata Indicom phone and it is very good in terms of reliability and voice quality. Subscription plans (calling tariffs) are identical among ALL service providers so the differentiator has to be the actual mobile service, ease of paying bill, promptness in solving problems etc.

This post is for anybody planning to take a Vodafone connection in Mumbai. My advice – DO NOT.

Posted in miscellaneous | Tagged , , , , | 49 Comments

Movie review – Laaga Chunari Mein Daag

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Varun

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag Poster I saw the movie Laaga Chunari Mein Daag a couple of days back at InOrbit with my parents. It had been a long time since we had seen a movie together.

I liked LCMD. It has received a lot of bad reviews, the movie hall was also only half full and my expectations were pretty low. But the movie surprised me by having a decent (albeit predictable and old) story, a very good cast and some very solid acting. I think it is a “should see”.

Rani Mukherji‘s acting was very good, Konkona Sen Sharma‘s appears fresh and bubbly (as her character demands) and Anupam Kher and Jaya Bachchan both play their roles to near perfection. I could actually feel what they were going through. Kunal Kapoor did not have much to do but suits his role and so does Abhishek Bachchan. I think the excellent acting is what holds the movie together. A lesser cast might have not made the movie so watchable.

I found the movie to be lacking only in a couple of places. Badki’s (Rani Mukherji’s character) transformation from a village belle to a high-society “escort” girl is wrapped up in 60 seconds. Too short and does not really convey the doubts and anguish that she would have experienced. The ending is also a bit anti-climatic. Movies like this should have endings that keep the viewer on tenterhooks and keep them guessing till the last moment, after all in drama movies the entire movie is a buildup for the ending. The ending is too sugar-coated and short and does not do justice to the movie.

Movie critic Maitland McDonagh described the movie as “breaks no new ground but is solidly entertaining”. I think that describes the movie quite well.

Posted in movies | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Popcorn

Posted on October 22, 2007 by Varun

I do not know what it is about popcorn that makes me forget my manners and makes me a total hog. When I see a bowl of popcorn, my mind goes into some special mode where it’s only aim in life is to eat as much popcorn as possible. I actually grab handfuls of the stuff and stuff it into my mouth as if I have been hungry since many days. I keep on stuffing my mouth till the popcorn runs out. It is only a few minutes later when I am feeling very uncomfortable that I realize that I have overeater… can you believe that? I need to control my desires. Sheesh.

Posted in personal | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Last post…

Posted on October 20, 2007 by Varun

…from 25 year old Varun :-) Next post will be by the Varun who is a year older. I am having Garfield-like feelings about my birthday. More about that later.

Posted in daily diary, personal | Tagged | 3 Comments

Parents are here!

Posted on October 20, 2007 by Varun

My parents and grandmother had planned to come down to Mumbai a couple of weeks back and stay with my brother and me for a few days. However weather at that time was quite unpleasant (continuous rains) and I too fell ill. So they postponed their trip and moved the plans to this weekend.

They arrived in the morning. I have planned lots of things for a couple of days (Mumbai darshan, malls, dinners, lunches, shopping, meeting friends), a trip to Belapur to see my brother’s place and some time at my room resting and talking. They seem pretty satisfied with the cleanliness of my rooms so that is one goal scored ;-) My place is always neat but then parents always have different benchmarks. My Amuma (grandmother in Malayalam) poured the sugar from a plastic cover into the jar containing rice and that has been the only mishap till now ;-) They are coping admirably with my limited amenities, they always do actually. Amuma and Mom are full of questions (How can you trust the Bai? Where do you keep the valuables? Why are there no curtains in your room) and Dad is observing everything silently. Unfortunately Vineet’s schedule does not permit him to join us… I am missing him :-(

I am taking them to InOrbit in some time. We are also going for a movie in the evening. I am taking them to a nice restaurant for dinner. Tomorrow I have hired a cab to take them to the 5-6 typical Mumbai landmarks. Friends are coming to my place in the evening. All in all I am going to have a nice weekend. Will keep you updated.

Posted in family, personal | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

The new Idea Ad – Too good!

Posted on October 14, 2007 by Varun

I really loved the new Idea Ad starring Abhishek Bachchan! Check it out on YouTube below. Simple, memorable, ties in with the central “Idea” theme and you like watching it again and again.

via Full2 Faltu

Posted in fun, miscellaneous | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

My New Laptop – HP Pavilion dv9502AU Portable

Posted on October 13, 2007 by Varun

Quick Specs

  • AMD Turion64 X2 Processor TL-56; Dual Core
  • 1.8 GHz, 2 x 512 KB L2 Cache, up to 1600 MHz FSB
  • 17” Colour TFT ; BrightView™ WideScreen
  • 8X SuperMulti Drive LightScribe, Double Layer (8.5 GB)
  • Windows Vista Home Premium

[[[ NOTE ]]] – Read my review of this laptop here.

Continue reading →

Posted in personal | Tagged , , , | 49 Comments

Mumbai

Posted on October 13, 2007 by Varun

I came to Mumbai from Delhi to join a new project a little more than an year ago.

It was an exciting move for me. I was going to lead the team. I was moving much closer to home. I was going to the city so central to the Indian mindset, the home of Bollywood, the financial capital of India and the city nickname the city of dreams. I was also moving closer to many of my friends… I had lots of friends in Mumbai and Mumbai is also closer to Bangalore where my brother lived. Continue reading →

Posted in friends, personal, thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Saturday morning

Posted on October 13, 2007 by Varun

Aah… weekends. Usually my favourite part of the week. Went to sleep very late last night. Was playing around with the blog and reading stuff.

Also started reading a book called Programming the Universe authored by Seth Lloyd. Lately I have been rereading some of my favourite stuff, Harry Potter, Asimov books, Sherlock Holmes etc. Too much of fiction actually. So this time when I walked into a bookstore I decided to get something I usually would not get. Picked up this book at random, read a random page and liked the quantum-mechanical thingamajig the author was talking about, so bought it. Read a few pages and seems interesting. The initial pages in such books are always easy and interesting. It is later that the fun starts… I have still not complete reading A Brief History of Time. Hopefully this book will be easier to finish.

Have lots of errands to run over the weekend. Parents are coming for 4 days next weekend so I have to get the house in order. Nothing big, my rooms are usually in good shape. But have to do some cleaning, call the plumber, call the electrician, order for a new gas cylinder and so on and so forth. I also have to plan how to take them around in Mumbai. I just hope the weather stays pleasant, that it does not rain and it does not get too hot.

That’s all for now. See ya soon!

Posted in books, daily diary, family | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments